Life as a Brandtito

I've been a mixture of lazy and busy  lately. Here is a quick rundown of some of the things we've been up to via photos... Ava turned 6 & celebrated with a birthday at the Funplex in Gulf Breeze. Gavin was not intrested in attending this shindig but the lady Brandts never turn down a party. I painted our livingroom partially blue & am painting our kitchen teal this weekend. (Of course I've been planning to paint the kitchen since I painted the wall so maybe not this weekend....) I traveled to Kansas for JSC for the week. It was my first time actually spending any real time there, and I was very impressed with Wichita!! I would definitely like to make another trip there....you know..sometime in the future... Sushi with Strawberries in Kansas...an unexpected bonus. My second night in Kansas all hell broke lose and several massive storms rolled thru. Scary stuff.  Being unfamiliar with our location, me and my partner proceede

Our camper has returned!! She has brought with her numerous stories, songs and verses to share! She said she most definitely wants to return next year! She was scheduled to ride the bus home on Saturday morning, but elected to come back with me Friday night instead. She gave it some serious thought, but several of the girls in her cabin (Cabin 5) were leaving with their parent's so she decided to surprise the rest of the Brandtitos by returning a few hours early. (Plus her cabin leader said she had been a little homesick, only on the last day though). Before going home, Heaven showed me around some of her favorite places, introduced me to several of the girls she'd met, and had dinner with me at the dining hall. We also went to the closing awards ceremony where the campers who had placed highest in the sporting events at camp received their medals/ribbons & also where the campers performed a few of the songs and verses they'd learned throughout the week. Heaven s

Gavin's big day!! Twelve is here!! 12 We're bringing cupcakes to Lead Academy today in celebration of Gavin's Birthday (Green frosting at his request) & tonight, while I have dinner with Heaven, John is taking Gavin and AB to a Wahoo's game! We will be having a party at home for him as well, but he has asked that we wait for the Johnson Boys to return home from their trip to Hawaii. 

Can you see it??  #ModernPunkyBrewster

So...this happened today. 

Heaven's hard work has paid off and with a final total of $235.00 earned,  today she headed off to camp. Words cannot express how excited she was this morning! She said she was a little bit nervous, but mostly just eager to get her week at camp started. She elected to ride the bus to camp & from camp and was excited to see several girls show up at the last minute to meet the bus as well. John had her convinced it was the all boy week and that she'd somehow slipped thru the screening process. Notice her "adventure hat"she picked up yesterday while we were getting the rest of her camp supplies at Target. Look at her grin...she was seriously so stinking excited I cannot believe my lil HB is old enough for camp. I was going thru old photos and just look at these of baby Heaven from when me and John were dating... Our first Halloween Look. at. those. cheeks Our very first camping trip!  100 days of Kindergarten  She's barely big

One of these outfits was self chosen....the other was chosen by Mama...can you guess which is which?                   Happy 4th of July everyone!!  It was a rainy 4th for us Floridians. But with the rain comes cooler temperatures, and I'll take a little wet over sweat any day.   We started the 4th off by sleeping in (which of course still means we were up by 9...) and then cooked out with the Brandt/Simmons clan for lunch. We'd planned to go to the Riverwalk area too take part in the crafts and whatnot but once the girls heard Ava was already at Nana's house...they could not be persuaded to do anything that did not include being with her.   Cousins                  It was overcast and cloudy all day, but we did manage to escape most of the rain. Until the fireworks that is. I'm talking literally until the fireworks started. Sparkles The boys                    So...we watched the fireworks in the rain. The kids actually thought it was pretty co

Happy Forth Of July!!

Are you kidding me? I mean...come on. How beautiful is she??!!!                  So the girls wanted to play dress up tonight. Clearly Annabelle created her own look  opting for the most terrible shade of lipstick I own (it was free, don't judge me) and blue eyeshadow. My phone photos don't really do it justice..think ice blue, but with more sparkles. She also felt compelled to put on the majority of it herself. Heaven went with red lips (hello Taylor Swift) & gold eyeshadow...and also let me pamper her vs tackling the make up herself. They proceeded to kiss Dad with their painted lips...and threaten Gavin with the same fate for the rest of the evening. I'm not sure what this pose is that AB is doing...but she really likes it apparently...   By lovely AB in all her sparkly glory. This will show up in a senior video of some sort...you can count on it.